Tuesday, August 5, 2014

VA Audit: Staffers were Told to Falsify Data

Local Veterans Affairs employees were told to falsify appointment dates to "game" the system, a VA audit has found, raising fresh questions about officials' denials that staffers schemed to hide delays in responding to veterans.
At the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, nearly a third of schedulers interviewed by auditors this spring said they had been instructed not to enter the actual appointment dates veterans had requested, but instead log different dates.
Similar manipulations were encouraged at the clinic in Horsham, auditors found. They called it an attempt to skirt the system.
The disclosures outraged members of Congress, leading some to call for firings or criminal charges.
"I'm hopping mad," said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R., Pa.). "Because I sat directly across from the director at both Horsham and at the Philadelphia hospital and specifically asked about this issue, and they lied to my face."
The auditors' findings, released to legislators, answer the long-standing question of why 112 VA facilities nationwide, including the University City hospital and the Horsham clinic, were flagged last month for added scrutiny.
Jennifer Askey, a Philadelphia VA spokeswoman, said Wednesday the facility continues to "act with integrity and reaffirm our values." She declined to elaborate until the review is completed.
Previous statement
Askey has previously said auditors' concerns might have stemmed from incorrect bookkeeping at the clinic, which serves about 10,000 veterans, and the hospital, the regional hub for more than 57,000 veterans from Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey.
The findings appear to compound the problems facing the city's VA system, now assailed on both the health and benefits sides. The VA benefits facility in Germantown is under review after investigators found staff there had changed dates on old claims from veterans or their family members, making them appear new.
The VA ordered an audit of its health system in April after reports surfaced that schedulers - unable to meet tight deadlines for appointments - were keeping secret wait lists or entering desired dates other than the ones requested by veterans, a practice that makes the delay appear shorter.
The review found rampant manipulation by employees, but site-specific details only emerged this week.
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